Music writing machine



Oct. 9, 1951 R. c. EGLAN 2,570,330

MUSIC WRITING MACHINE Filed Oct. 1l, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l .-f' INVENTOR.

LQ l BY /TTORNEK Oct. 9, 1951 R. c. EGLAN 2,570,330

MUSIC WRITING MACHINE Filed Oct. ll, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gg@ G @D INVENToR.

/Q/c/ve//ea/ 6I fy/a/f Patented ct. 9, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MUSIC WRITING MACHINE Richelieu C. Eglan, Kansas City, Kans.

Application October 11, 1948, Serial N o. 53,929

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to the eld of music and, more particularly, to keyed musical instruments, the primary object being to provide apparatus capable of use with and operation by the keys of said instrument, for recording upon writing material the notes being played simultaneously with the playing thereof and operable to correctly position the characters representing the notes upon stai lines formed on the paper to indicate pitch and, also, to form the characters in the conventional manner to indicate relative duration.

The most important object of this invention is to provide recording apparatus for pianos and like keyed instruments having a plurality of electrical circuits, each having interposed therein a switch that is moved to a closed position by depression of the corresponding key, energization of the circuits bringing into operation certain i mechanism capable of impressing upon a sheet of Writing material the note of the corresponding circuit played upon the piano.

Another object of this invention is to provide apparatus for recording music having a reciprocable and swingable arm for each key respec tively of the piano, a solenoid or other electromotive device for operating each arm respectively and controlled by the above-mentioned circuits, all to the end that, as any one key is depressed, the arm will move to a position for striking a reciprocable stem and causing an impression to be made upon the writing material.

A further object of this invention is to provide recording means as above set forth, wherein each of the shiftable arms has a row of corresponding plungers provided with a particular character representing the note being played, the plungers of each row thereof including the various character representations for indicating different note durations.

Other objects of this invention include the way in which the reciprocable and swingable arms are arranged with respect to the staff lines formed on the writing paper to correctly position the impressed notes thereon; the manner in which the reciprocable arms are moved at dii'- ferent distances to strike appropriate stems in accordance with the length of time the corresponding key is held depressed; the manner in which a pair of springs is utilized to normally hold the arms biased in two directions; and the way in which a solenoid is used to attract the arm against the action of one of the springs to.

a position where the same comes into contact with a continuously rotating member serving to move the arm to a stem-striking position.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a music writing machine made in accordance with the present invention, showing a portion of a piano keyboard, one of the electrical circuits of the machine and a top plan View of one of the units forming a part thereof.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational View taken on irregular line II-II of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing the position oi' a key switch; and,

Fig. 4i is a fragmentary, detailed, cross sectional view taken on line IVHIV of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 of the drawing illustrates a piano key I0, such as is illustrated in Fig. 1 and forming a part of the piano or other keyed instruments. As a part of the machine to be used with the piano forming the subject matter hereof is provided a switch I2 for each key I0, respectively, and disposed in underlying relationship thereto for movement to and from a closed position with stationary contact I4.

The switch arm I2 may be pivotally mounted in any suitable manner and biased by use of a spring or the like toward the open position against the respective key I0, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing. Each of the switches I2 is interposed within an electric circuit connected with a pair of lead lines I6 and I8. Also interposed within such circuit is a solenoid 20. Fig. 1 of the drawings shows the manner in which solenoid 20 is interposed within lines 22 and 24, joining lead lines I6 and I8 with switch I2.

A case, of any suitable character and broadly designated by the numeral 26, has mounted therein a plurality of elongated arms 2B. Each arm 28 has a supporting plate 30 that is, in turn, secured to case 26 in any suitable manner (not shown). As shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, the arms 28 are disposed with their longitudinal axes in a horizontal plane and in a relatively superimposed condition. The supporting plates 30 are, likewise, arranged in spaced, vertical alignment.

The plates 3D are all provided with an elongated slot 32, intersecting the longitudinal axis of the respective arm 28, for slidably receiving a pin 34, said pin 34, in turn, passing through an elongated slot 36 formed in the arm 28 adjacent oner end thereof. A coil spring 3B for each arm 28 has one end thereof looped about 3 arm 28 within slot 36 thereof and the opposite end secured, as at 40, directly to one wall of case 26.

Another wall of case 26 receives one end of a second spring 42, as at 44, said spring 42 joining with the arm 28 through a collar 46 slidably mounted upon arm 28. As illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing, the collar 46 substantially circumscribes the arm 28 and has an outturned ear 48 for receiving one end of the spring 42 opposite to point of connection 44.

A link 50 has one end thereof secured to the collar 46 in opposed relationship to the spring 42 and being freely pivotal with respect to collar 46. The opposite end of the link 58 is pivotally mounted upon a bar 52 of any suitable metallic material capable of being attracted by the core of an electromagnet 20 when the latter is energized. One end of the bar 52 is pivotally secured, as at 54, to a suitable support 56 within case 26.

One edge of each arm 28 next adjacent its solenoid 20 and apparatus actuated thereby, including bar 52, is provided with a toothed rack 58. This rack 58 extends substantially half the length of arm 28 in that end thereof opposed to slot 36. The free end of arm 28 opposite to spring 28 has a laterally-extending hammer element 60 that projects from one edge thereof in a direction opposite to rack 58.

An elongated gear 62 is mounted for vertical rotation within the case 26 upon a shaft 64 through such screws or the like 66. This gear 62 traverses the stack of arms 28 and is normally spaced from the racks 58 of arms 28, as illustrated in full lines in Fig. l of the drawing.

At a point within case 28, disposed outwardly from the hammer end '68 of arms 28, and to one side of racks 58 thereof, is a plunger board broadly designated by the numeral 68. This board 68 includes a plurality of rows of reciprocable plungers le and, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing, there is a horizontal row of plungei's 18 for each arm 28 and disposed in alignment therewith.

Each plunger 18 carries a stern I2 having a head 'I4 that is engraved with a character representing a musical note. The plunger T and the stem 12 are reciprocably mounted within a cylinder '16, there being a coil spring 18 about the stem 12 for yieldably holding the plunger 'I0 and head '.4 in the inoperative position shown in Fig. l of the drawing. Stem 12 is secured directly to that end of plunger 1D within cylinder 7..

A pair of spaced-apart, vertical drums 80 and 82 are, also, mounted for free rotation within the case 26, drum 82 being adapted to have a sheet of writing material 84 coiled thereabout to be fed to the drum 80 across the plurality of head 14 in the manner indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawing. A sheet of writing material 84 traverses one face of a backing panel 86.

A pair of rollers 88 and 90, also mounted for rotation on a vertical axis within case 26, carry an inking ribbon 92 in a position interposed between the engraved heads 14 and the proximal face of the sheet of writing material 84.

The elongated gear 62 is continuously rotated during the operation of the machine by means of an electric motor or other prime mover 94 that is operably interconnected with the vertical shaft 64 by means of a speed reducer 96. Like means (not shown) may be utilized for continuously rotating the take-up roller 89 for writing material 84 and the take-up roller 68 for inking ribbon 92.

For purposes of illustration only, the characters inscribed upon the heads 14 of one row thereof are indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawing and designated by the numeral 98.

Assuming the component parts of the machine above described to be assembled as above set forth, the operation thereof is as follows:

When the operator desires to transcribe upon a sheet of writing material such as at 84 the notes being played upon keys I0 of a piano, he places a roll of paper 84 about drum 82 and causes the same to be moved across the backing panel 86 from right to left, as indicated in Fig. l of the drawing.

rIhe writing material 84 is provided with the usual stair lines running longitudinally thereacross and extending in width the full width of the sheet of material 84. The inking ribbon 92 is, also, placed in motion, as is the elongated gear 62, through energization of motor 94. Gear 62 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 of the drawing continuously throughout the time of playing.

Upon depression of any one of the keys I0, its corresponding switch l2 will be closed to close the circuit for energizing the corresponding solenoid 20. Such operation causes an attraction of bar '32 downwardly, as shown in Fig. 1, pulling therewith the respective arm 28 against the action of .spring 42 to a position where the rack 58 intermeshes with gear 62.

Since gear 62 is rotating, arm 28 will be moved from a position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 against the action of spring 38 to the left and toward the dotted line position of Fig. l. The distance which arm 28 will travel from the inoperative position to the inoperative position is entirely dependent upon the length of time key I0 is held depressed.

As soon as key I8 is released, solenoid 20 will be de-energized and, through the action of spring 42, arm 28 will swing to a position where the same strikes one of the plungers l0. Which of the plungers 18 that in the row thereof corresponding to the arm 28 that is actuated is, of course, dependent upon the distance of travel of arm 28 againts action of spring 38. This distance of travel of arm 28 is dependent upon the length of time that its corresponding key ID is held in the depressed condition.

Accordingly, the pitch of each key is transcribed upon the writing material 84 in the correct position with respect to the staff lines on writing material 84 because of the fact that each horizontal row of plungers 'I9 and their corresponding arm 28 is situated, with respect to their vertical position, in correspondence with the staff lines on writing material 84.

By the same token, the duration of each note played is indicated upon the writing material 84 because of the fact that each head 14 in all of the horizontal rows thereof has engraved thereon a differing character as indicated at 98. Clarifying further, if the key I0 corresponding to the arm 28 in Fig. 1 of the drawing is depressed for only a short period of time, arm 28 will only move from right to left a short distance and, when its solenoid 28 is de-energized, hammer 60 will strike the iirst plunger 10, i. e., that plunger 'I0 next adjacent the spring 42.

In the event the key I0 is held depressed for a relatively long period of time, its corresponding hammer 60 will move to a point in alignment with the plunger 10 remote from spring 42 and strike the same when its solenoid is de-energized.

While only five plungers in each horizontal row have been shown in the drawings, representing five different periods of duration and, accordingly, a like number of different characters representing the particular note in said row, it is to be understood that 'a larger number of such plungers might well be used if desired. By the same token, in Fig. 2 of the drawing, there is not shown a row of plungers 'l0 for all of the keys of the conventional piano, as is contemplated in the nished assembly.

It is apparent, of course, that the slots 32 and 36 in plates 38 and arms 28, respectively, together with the pin 34, serve in guiding the arm 28 through its novel path of travel. The spring 42 is appreciably stronger than the spring 38, to the end that the arm 28 will be moved to a plunger-striking position when the solenoid 20 is released prior to movement by spring 38 of arm 28 back to the original inoperative position.

While the spring 42 in the untensioned position of Fig. l of the drawing normally holds arm 28 in the position shown therein, it is to be understood that, when arm 28 is extended against the action of spring 38 and, when the solenoid 2l) is released, spring 42 will operate to move arm 28 beyond the normal position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Upon rebound of the hammer 6U, after striking a plunger T8, hammer 80 will clear all of the plungers 18 for free rotation to the starting position through action of the spring 38.

This precise operation is dependent entirely upon the relative strengths of springs 38 and 42 and, therefore, the same must be carefully chosen. It is contemplated, also, that adjustable means might well be provided between one end of both springs 38 and 42 and the proximal connecting wall therefor, if desired, to the end that the actions of these springs 38 and 42 might be varied to assure the precise operation of arms 28 in the manner above outlined.

While recording devices for musical instruments have heretofore been developed, as far as I am aware, none has been capable of so transcribing the characters upon the staff lines previously arranged on a sheet of writing material in the correct position with respect to pitch and, also, with the correct configuration with respect to note duration.

While but one embodiment of the present invention has been set forth, it is appreciated that such changes and modifications as fairly come within the scope of the appended claims are contemplated hereby.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. Apparatus for transcribing notes played on a keyed musical instrument upon an elongated sheet of material provided with longitudinally arranged staiic lines on one face thereof, said apparatus comprising means for moving said sheet of material on its longitudinal axis; a plunger with a head for each key respectively of said instrument, said heads each having engraved thereon the musical character corresponding to its respective key, and being movable toward and from a position where the engraved characters thereof strike said face of the sheet of material, said heads being arranged in alignment with their corresponding character positions on the sheet of material with respect to 6 said staff lines; and actuating means for each plunger respectively including a hammer swingable against and away from the plunger; elements for swinging the hammer away from the plunger upon depression of the corresponding key; and spring means for swinging the hammer against its plunger upon release of the depressed key and said elements.

2. Apparatus for transcribing notes played on a keyed musical instrument upon a sheet of material having staff lines thereon, said apparatus comprising a movable plunger with a head for each key respectively of said instrument, said heads each having a musical character thereon capable when forced against said material of depicting thereon a representation of the note played by its corresponding key; means for moving said material through a path of travel intersecting the paths of travel of said heads; and structure operably interconnecting each key and the respective plunger for actuating the latter as the key is depressed, said structure including a swingable arm, means for holding said arm biased toward its plunger, electromagnetic means for swinging the arm away from the plunger, and means for each key and actuated thereby for energizing said electromagnetic means upon depression of the key whereby to set the arm to strike its plunger through force of said biasing means upon release of the key.

3. Apparatus for transcribing notes played on a keyed instrument upon one face of a sheet of material having staff lines thereon, said apparatus comprising a plurality of rows of plungers, each having a head movable toward and away from said material, said heads all being provided with a musical character capable of making an impression on the material when forced thereagainst, all of the characters of each row of heads corresponding to a respective key and formed to indicate progressively increased duration of the note played by the respective key as one end of the row is approached, the rows of heads being positioned with respect to the staff lines to indicate pitch when the heads are forced against the material; and structure including a prime mover for each key respectively for actuating the plungers of the corresponding row as the key is depressed, said structure including parts controlled toA actuate a given plunger of the row thereof in accordance with the duration of time of key depression.

4. In apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said structure includes an arm reciprocable to and from a position in alignment with its row of piungers and swingable against and away from the plungers, and means for reciprocating the arm.

5. In apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said structure includes an arm reciprocable to and from a position in alignment with its row of plungers and swingable against and away from the plungers, and means for reciprocating the arm, and wherein said parts of the structure include an element for swinging the arm to a position in operative engagement with the reciprocating means.

6. In apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said structure includes an arm reciprocable to and from a position in alignment with its row of plungers and swingable against and away from the plungers, and means for reciprocating the Larm, and wherein said parts of the structure include an element for swinging the arm to a position in operative engagement with the recipro- 7 eating means, and a spring on the arm for forcing the latter against the row of plungers on release of said element.

7. In apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said structure includes an arm reciprocable to and from a position in alignment with its row of plungers and swingable against and away from the plungers, and means for reciprocating the arm, and wherein said parts of the structure include an element for swinging the arm to a po- 10 sition in operative engagement with the recprocating means, and a spring on the arm for forcing the latter against the row of plungers on release of said element, and a second spring for returning the arm to a normal position out of alignment with the plungers after the same has engaged one of the plungers.

RICHELIEU C. EGLAN.

No references cited. 

